Today spent a little time talking about two ways (there are many more) to reduce anxiety at home; one being a way of breathing, and another being reducing other obligations not directly related to your family and house.
I also read from the book by Elizabeth Prentiss called "Stepping Heavenward" about a 16 year old girl who was trying to do better in her life.
The article I read is HERE and I suggested with any exercise that had step by step instructions, you have someone read it to you while you do it.
There are some anti-anxiety poses HERE and stretches HERE.
In past times, ladies at home prevented anxiety by taking time to:
Going for a leisurely stroll
Baking
Washing their hair
Singing
Reading
Knitting
and many other things.
Some "stealth sipping" here today by a tree with purples leaves.
Please enjoy being home and getting some things done while you listen to the broadcast today:
I am sorry, I do not know the name or artist of the lovely 1800's painting at the top.
Greetings Homemakers and those who would like to be!
Today I spoke a little about authors of current times who write novels in the Jane Austen style, based in the Regency era, and post their audiobooks online. One of them I mentioned was Letters for Phoebe. I enjoy listening to stories while I am doing big jobs in the home by myself. The labor of cleaning a kitchen is hardly noticed while listening to one of these books.
I read a page from The Jane Austen Diet by Bryan Koslowski.
I also want to include some new moves I am making in the fitness area, with easy moves and poses for posture HERE. These are not videos, but step by step instructions easy to follow.
On this site, all you need to do is write in their search area: "Stretches/Poses for (back ache, digestion, belly fat, weight loss, sinus, nausea, numbness, anxiety--and much more.) It is possible to find one stretch that improves your health more than 30 minutes of vigorous exercise.
Another subject I covered was the definition of "minding your own business"---that it means focus on your own work. The homemaker's work is the work that manages the home and family, guides and guards it.
Please enjoy your work at home while you listen to the broadcast today.
It’s been extremely noisy around here while a new window is installed.
These strong young men came for a few days to do the work and the place looked like a construction sight for awhile. Feeding a construction crew is a much more involved. I had to compensate them with more than tea sandwiches 😊 . Consequently I was absorbed in this great effort to keep them nourished.
I am busy with cleanup because, as you know, the thigh bone is connected to the knee bone and so on. Areas totally separate from the construction project are no longer untouched by it.
I’m looking forward to a broadcast very soon so keep checking.
Hello, and welcome to my “stealth sipping” report for the last week.
The children’s fort was a nice prop for Sunday Sipping. I’ll name this Fortress Tea. It was raining and the fort sheltered everything nicely and provides a quick outdoor seating area and refuge from the weather. Now I feel justified in keeping everything including toys.
The Manse had been going through more small repairs. Some of my descendants are here doing the planning and work with great gusto. With the commotion, I have not found a refuge area to make a broadcast but I am thinking about it and that’s what counts, eh?
As The Manse is just not show-worthy yet, I will share some stealth sipping pictures. It’s getting colder here now and I am anticipating unusual places indoors to secretly sip some sweet solutions.
I noticed a few months ago at the Hobby Lobby the many wall pictures depicting old sheds and barns, so I tried a sip of “ Vintage Shed tea” for Monday stealth sipping. You will have to listen to one of my recent broadcasts where I explain that this is my safe substitute for the more adventurous and risky hobby of stealth camping. I’m too vital to sneak around camping on borders and fancy hotel property like the experienced creative stealth campers. This is a more refined option— less drama and no one will call the local sheriff.
Tuesday tea was juniper tree tea. I understand the juniper berries also make a nice tea for indoor scent but I’m not sure about drinking it so I created a blend with berries and mint.
I like the contrast of the fancy cups in a rustic background.
This was Wednesday’s blackberry infusion using the last of the season fading blackberries. Blackberries are very expensive but most of us have been taken over by them. If we were not right on the job cutting them back, the Manse would be hidden.
On Thursday there was a-quiet-time-in-the-field sip.
Always happy for a Queen Anne’s Lace photo opportunity, here is Friday’s Queen Anne’s Lace Appreciation sip.
I hope to add more soon.
There are more places I can go with this recreation, and when I have experienced all possible tea cup scenes, I might go into stealth- sorting in The Manse. There are books, sewing supplies, kitchen shelves, recipes and old letters that need sorting. Wait and see my progress. Have a look at stealth camping channels and you will see how skillful these people are (and why I’m not allowed to do it.)
Until I can talk to you again, I hope you will be uniquely creative ( but not unwise) and enjoy your home.
I have been on my stealth sipping adventure early this morning, so that I could show you this photograph of tea on an obliging fence post. Do you know the history of the word "post", as in post office, posted, The Post, etc.?
Today I read about the way the 19th century women regarded the home.
Look for the broadcast video at the end of this post.
Greetings ladies at home. This is for my darling Lilli (Miss Lillian) , who checks my blog every day.
Some of you remember hearing me read parts of The Weather Book by Eric Sloan, written in 1949. Parts of it explained how to detect weather conditions by the atmosphere inside the house as well as the outside.
My second stealth sipping event was in the weather, for a taste of “Soft Rain” tea. I haven’t had time to be more creative with the name.
My schedule today:
-Prep (dress, 2 minute exercise or walk through the house, make a priority list.)
-I know the custom of making the bed first is good, but lately I have pulled back all the covers, opened the bedroom windows, giving it all a fresh air laundering before putting it together. I also read about this in the book “Home Comforts “.
Other Things:
-clean fridge, kitchen
-Correspondence
-Sewing, mending
-Groceries
-planting
-Walk around outside
In this video I read about the benefit of having fresh flowers in your home HERE and HERE . You can do further research on this to convince you of the health advantages of fresh flowers and plants.
Today in my message I talked about having the life you admire from other eras, by adapting the good elements of those times. In essence it is just living a pleasant daily life at home like people in the past have always done. We don't have to wish we lived in a different century because we can practice the same customs of the past in our homes, with ordinary tasks and pastimes.
My new venture, "stealth sipping" began at night on the porch with a sip of my own blend, a concoction I call “Light in the darkness."
Our landscape is changing.
I talked about these things:
The best way to teach and influence is by the way you live.
Homemaking is a matter of character.
The reasons people homeschool are not the same for everyone, but character qualities in curriculum are very important.
I enjoyed reading you the tea descriptions from Jane Austen books. Click on this link
to see these lovely teas and read the rest of this delightful tea company.
Please enjoy your responsibilities at home while you listen:
I have stated in the past how much Victoria magaine has to offer. For one thing, it never has a discouraging word, never leaves a person feeling down, uses natural things we can all attain, and has beauty and refinement. I will review it page by page soon, with suggestions to you homeschool students, how it can be used as a window to the world and life in many ways.
The recent Victoria had some splendid autumn pictures using only natural things. I was not interested in artifical foliage for autumn this year, so I went overboard with pumpkins, squash and gourds both indoors and outside.
I found white pumpkins and chrysanthemums at our local stores, which looked best with the white and sage green on the front porch of The Manse.
This natural decor sets off the porch "ruins" just fine.
Don't I wish I could look as great in this shirt as the dress form does.
In the previous broadcast I mentioned the benefits of the spice Nutmeg. An assignment: Look for charts and pictures which list the many health advantages of using nutmeg.
Today I read the rest of the chapter on Refinement from Helen Andelin's book, which includes the following words, worth looking up:
tactful
diplomatic
courteous
propriety
good taste
graciousness
considerate
complimentary
encouraging
So much is contained in the concept of refinement, that it is worth some time to research it.
For more about refinement, listen to the previous video.
Please enjoy getting something done at home while you listen. The video today is only 45 minutes.
Greetings Dear Ladies and welcome to The Manse. It is looking like a worn-out summer around here, but still there are always the delights of every season.
Today in the broadcast I talked a little about travel clothing and in my search for ideas, came across this paragraph regarding the travel customs of the 1800's:
Secondly, women travelers were advised to avoid conspicuous dress as that was noted to be “vulgar.” This meant women were to dress plainly and avoid unnecessary garniture, jewelry, or flowers, as “gay dress, or finery of any sort, when in a boat, stage, or [rail]car, lays a woman open to the most severe misconstruction.”[2] Additionally, one etiquette expert noted that “a quiet, unpretending dress, and dignified demeanor, will insure for a lady respect.”[3]
I also mentioned this photograph from Simple Social Graces by Linda Lichter, which shows the Victorians on vacation visiting the seaside. The caption compares it with todays mode of dress on vacations.
Description reads: Strollers on the Coney Island boardwalk on a summer day in 1897 show a sensibility about public dress and decorum that is in stark contrast in the modern era.
I talked about some of the things people did to prepare for travel and vacation, such as choosing travel clothing, shopping in tourist places, and keeping a travel vacation diary of sorts.
It is a bit cooler around The Manse, as the temperature and colors are changing.
Ladies cotton plaid shirt: Time & Tru from WalMart
Plastic pumpkin soap dispenser: JoAnn Fabrics
"We are enjoying very nice weather."
A few years ago I made these fanciful fake pumpkins to go with my seafoam green decor, from fleece fabric called Minky, in mint green.
It is not too sunny around The Manse today but I hope I brought
some sunshine.
Today I showed a picture from the recent Victoria Magazine, of the way a designer paired furnishings in avocado green with bright spots of fushsia pink, from a decorating book called "The Collected Cottage."
I talked about how much more creative we could have been with this color we were saturated with in a previous decade. Now I see it in antique stores made very appealing. The Tartan Topiary reviews many decorating books. Go through her videos to find one you like. Sometimes she features books by Victoria Magazine.
Please go and read it for yourself, as it is explains why the process of making introductions was created; namely to reduce the awkwardness of approaching someone by yourself.
To begin your day, I suggested a "prep" list, which, after you have got used to repeating,
can just list it as "prep" to warm your mind up to the day ahead.
One of the exercise ladies you might like, especially if you are of "a certain age" which we referred to as "vital", is
Scroll through her videos and find a one or two minute exercise from bed or a chair to get started.
They do a lot to settle your mind and emotions, enabling you to focus.
I also talked about the spice "nutmeg" that has many benefits. You can do a search on it, and discover that it also helps lift the mood and prevent depression.
Please enjoy your home while you listen to the broadcast:
For the vanilla mousse cake filling recipe similar to the one used by Costco, most of the recipes that turned up on my search required a box of instant vanilla pudding. There were a few that listed only heavy cream, cream cheese, vanilla and confectioners (powdered) sugar.
If you want more information about 18th and 19th century travel clothes, you can view some of the period movies, where the creators have done fairly good research on the subject and reproduced the clothes. The 1990's versions of the Jane Austen books are a nice representation of travel clothes. Here is one screenshot I found, when Elizabeth went by carriage with her aunt and uncle to the Lake Country and stopped to visit Pemberly. Her aunt and uncle are portrayed walking in the background, in similar understated clothing.
You can see the colors and style cited in the link I posted about travel ettiquette in the Regency era, at the beginning of this article.
